TOPIC:

Devonleigh wrote: "It must also be remembered we lost a plethora of players to the vfl in this era certainly more than we picked up to replace-
Simon Beasley
Craig Hoyer
Craig Holden
Garry Sidebottom
Alan Sidebottom
Mike Richardson
Ian Williams
Phil Narkle
Mike Smith
Peter Kenny
Leon Baker
Daryl Sutton
Gerard Neesham"


Could we say with all those transfers Swans was making a lot of money and could therefore afford to go shopping for replacement players?

Also remember they won another G/F just 6 years after '84 meaning they could afford to retain their players.

Thoughts?

Unfortunately not Dev most of our players went to poor clubs like Footscray, Fitzroy, St Kilda even Collingwood were broke back in the 1980s remember and I was told many years ago we never received the full transfer fees for the likes of Narkle, Sidebottom, Beasley etc.
A pity none went to Hawthorn were Subi made a motza out of Buckenara's trade which essentially put them back in the black.
We had a Save Our Swans campaign back in 87/88 so I doubt there was too much money to stockpile the talent for 1990.
Most of our side in 1990 were relative newcomers to WAFL footy (Strempel, Menegola, Retzlaff, Walker, Penny, A.Holmes, Passeri, O'Neill, Ogg, Davey, Gow, Grasso, Edmonds, Bazzo, O'Reilly etc) or Swans boys of old who stayed on after their vfl days had finished- Narkle, Hutton, Shine, D.Holmes, Langsford, Rance, Ugle etc who i daresay had the lure to play 1 more year under their mentor JT a big reason why they all came back to SD.
Virtually all of those boys named above are SD boys from our zone too I might add not recruits from other clubs the only exception in 1990 being- Gandini & Bell ex Perth, Hetherington ex EF.

Not sure who Enright is as our only 2 Presidents from 1976-1995 were SD legends-
John Cooper & Bill Walker!

The point missing from this marvelous nostalgia thread is that Toddy was not concerned with an exodus and actively encouraged some players to go east believing that a turnover of players during our halcyon days was necessary as new blood would be hungry for success that had eluded them at other clubs.
Opportunity is a wonderful thing in life and it saddens me that many do not grasp it using their God given talents.

Didn’t Michael Broadbridge cross from EF? Also Len Gandini from Perth and later John Clarkson under Todd.

DD wrote: Didn’t Michael Broadbridge cross from EF? Also Len Gandini from Perth and later John Clarkson.

Gandini I mentioned above in 1990 the other boys Broadbridge (swapped for Simon Moss & Craig Hoycard in 91) & Clarkson (swapped for Mick Hastie in 93) were after our 1982-90 Premiership era.

therealswansman wrote: The point missing from this marvelous nostalgia thread is that Toddy was not concerned with an exodus and actively encouraged some players to go east believing that a turnover of players during our halcyon days was necessary as new blood would be hungry for success that had eluded them at other clubs.
Opportunity is a wonderful thing in life and it saddens me that many do not grasp it using their God given talents.

TRSM this is true and Toddy wasnt idle in letting blokes leave to go to other WAFL clubs in that era either it certainly wasnt all one way traffic to Bassendean-

Mark Olsen (EF)
Tom Bell (EF)
Ross Fitzgerald (P)
Clinton Pike (EF)
Brian Dawson (P)
Rod Brown (SU)
Graeme Comerford (WP)
Frank Wilson (EP)
Glen O'Rourke (P)
Greg Frost (P)
Grant Edwards (EP)
Danny Platts (SU)
Jeff Stone (CL)
Tom Floyd (SU)
Alby Smith (EP)
Michael Smith (EP)
Tony Solin (EF)
Gerard Neesham (EF)
Shane Bogunovich (P)
Ramsay Bogunovich (WP) via VIC
Brian Close (SF) via SA
Mick O'Brien (WP) via SA
Tom Thorne (SA)
Max George (SA)

Of course he also threatened a few other players with being let go as well with his famous quip of-
"I will give you 2 transfer forms to leave with in case you lose 1 of them"!!

Devonleigh wrote: Watching those games of Sean's from the early Eighties, got me to thinking, was Todd the great recycler or the great motivator?

All be it that there was something in the water in the Bomba Valley in those days in the amount of natural talent they had but you add these players to the mix and no wonder Swans were a power house.

Any I missed?

Leigh Brenton
Tony Solin
Gerard Neesham
Michael Johns
Kim Hetherington
Graham Melrose
Barry Kimberley

This most likely happens at other clubs, but what astounded me at the time was how seamlessly they slotted into Todd's team. In 1983, Swans played Cl on a Sunday and the late Paul Werner in his debut kicked four or five goals. A week or two later, Mick Johns played for Swans for the first time, kicking a crucial goal against WP in the last quarter in a cliff-hanger at Leederville in I think his second game. All great, but many Swans' supporters - including myself - were surprised how these guys, who hadn't come through the usual channels like reserves, were suddenly in the league team and performing as if they were veterans of the club. You can throw Kimberley and Marshall into that lot for 1983 as well.

Beasley Hutton wrote:

therealswansman wrote: The point missing from this marvelous nostalgia thread is that Toddy was not concerned with an exodus and actively encouraged some players to go east believing that a turnover of players during our halcyon days was necessary as new blood would be hungry for success that had eluded them at other clubs.
Opportunity is a wonderful thing in life and it saddens me that many do not grasp it using their God given talents.

TRSM this is true and Toddy wasnt idle in letting blokes leave to go to other WAFL clubs in that era either it certainly wasnt all one way traffic to Bassendean-

Mark Olsen (EF)
Tom Bell (EF)
Ross Fitzgerald (P)
Clinton Pike (EF)
Brian Dawson (P)
Rod Brown (SU)
Graeme Comerford (WP)
Frank Wilson (EP)
Glen O'Rourke (P)
Greg Frost (P)
Grant Edwards (EP)
Danny Platts (SU)
Jeff Stone (CL)
Tom Floyd (SU)
Alby Smith (EP)
Michael Smith (EP)
Tony Solin (EF)
Gerard Neesham (EF)
Shane Bogunovich (P)
Ramsay Bogunovich (WP) via VIC
Brian Close (SF) via SA
Mick O'Brien (WP) via SA
Tom Thorne (SA)
Max George (SA)

Of course he also threatened a few other players with being let go as well with his famous quip of-
"I will give you 2 transfer forms to leave with in case you lose 1 of them"!!

Danny Platts...funny you mention him BH. I saw his name in the budget for the sd v joondy 1985 archive game, on our magoos list vs cl. Tbh I cant remember him...

DG wrote:

Beasley Hutton wrote:

therealswansman wrote: The point missing from this marvelous nostalgia thread is that Toddy was not concerned with an exodus and actively encouraged some players to go east believing that a turnover of players during our halcyon days was necessary as new blood would be hungry for success that had eluded them at other clubs.
Opportunity is a wonderful thing in life and it saddens me that many do not grasp it using their God given talents.

TRSM this is true and Toddy wasnt idle in letting blokes leave to go to other WAFL clubs in that era either it certainly wasnt all one way traffic to Bassendean-

Mark Olsen (EF)
Tom Bell (EF)
Ross Fitzgerald (P)
Clinton Pike (EF)
Brian Dawson (P)
Rod Brown (SU)
Graeme Comerford (WP)
Frank Wilson (EP)
Glen O'Rourke (P)
Greg Frost (P)
Grant Edwards (EP)
Danny Platts (SU)
Jeff Stone (CL)
Tom Floyd (SU)
Alby Smith (EP)
Michael Smith (EP)
Tony Solin (EF)
Gerard Neesham (EF)
Shane Bogunovich (P)
Ramsay Bogunovich (WP) via VIC
Brian Close (SF) via SA
Mick O'Brien (WP) via SA
Tom Thorne (SA)
Max George (SA)

Of course he also threatened a few other players with being let go as well with his famous quip of-
"I will give you 2 transfer forms to leave with in case you lose 1 of them"!!

Danny Platts...funny you mention him BH. I saw his name in the budget for the sd v joondy 1985 archive game, on our magoos list vs cl. Tbh I cant remember him...

Another South Bunbury boy DG, a wingman from memory.

an interesting thread with good posts

only Cl had more talent than SD --the one exception was 1982
SD had Todd, that was the difference
earlier on, Cooper had the sense to hold on to him, for two reasons, I think:

he new he already had an experienced premiership coach
he new the zone had talent

just one last point: given the side he had, and thinking of it in terms of the rest of the league, Todd failed as a coach only in 1980-- even that was against a pretty good South side which was in form

1981 -- cl had the better side
1982 -- he should have won and won
1983 -- he had a lesser side and still won
1984 -- was a great effort -- ef probably had more ability

all in all, he, and SD, achieved way over what they should have in the era. It was a magnificent effort by all concerned.